We review the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to provide a qu
antitative measurement of both vacancy and interstitial clusters in ion-imp
lanted silicon. Interstitials agglomerate into rod-like defects on {311} pl
anes, and the evaporation of these defects can be directly correlated to th
e diffusion enhancements observed during annealing of ion-damaged silicon.
Vacancy clusters are easily detected in TEM once they have been labelled us
ing a Au-diffusion technique. The combination of the two approaches provide
s a quantitative test for models of implantation and annealing in silicon.
Detailed models for point defect behaviour, which include Ostwald-ripening
and the surface recombination velocity, reproduce all of the crucial featur
es of the observed defect annealing.